Sealing head orienting apparatus



Dec. '31, 1957 E. E. YEO ETAL 2,818,159

SEALING HEAD ORIENTING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 17, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORS: EANEJT E. YEO DAV/0 P BROWN JTTORNEK Dec. 31, 1957 E. E. YEOETAL 2,818,159

SEALING HEAD ORIENTING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 17, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 2ERNEST E. YEO DAV/D F. D/POW/V BYW JTTORNEY Dec. 31, 1957 E. E. YE IOETAL SEALING HEAD ORIENTING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 17,1955 INVENTORS, 5mm E. Y0 0/11 10 mow/v BY M,

1! TTOR NE Y SEALING HEAD ORIENTING APPARATUS Ernest E. Yeo, Wenham, andDavid P. Drown, Beverly, Mass., assiguors to Sylvania Electric ProductsInc., Salem, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application August17, 1955, Serial No. 528,977

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-33) This invention relates to automatic machinery formanufacturing electric lamps and the like, and particularly to machinesin which the lamp is rotated during a portion of its travel in themachine and the rotation stepped during another period of the travel.Such action generally occurs in apparatus for sealing a flared glassstem to the open neck of a lamp bulb as a closure member therefor. Thebulb and stem are rotated together during the first portion of thesealing operation and the rotation is afterward stopped for theapplication of a mold to shape the seal.

However, the lamp must be stopped in a particular orientation, becauselead-in wires ordinarily extend outward from the stem, and theirposition must be fixed for subsequent operations on the lamp, such asthe bending and cutting of the wires, the threading of a wire through acontact base, and the soldering, welding or otherwise affixing of saidwires to the base contacts. The orientation is additionally importantwhen a fuse is used in one lead-in wire, because the lead-in wirecontaining the fuse generally needs to be attached to a particular oneof the base contacts.

The stem, usually called a mount when it includes lead-in wires and afilament connected thereto, can be received from a previous machine in aparticular orientation, and the sealing apparatus must then control theorientation in which the lamp after scaling is delivered to subsequentapparatus for performing additional operations upon it. In this way, theorientation of the lead-in wires can be controlled throughout thelamp-making process, thereby making possible the complete automation oflamp-making machinery from the feeding of the bulbs, stem flare, lead-inwires, exhaust tube and filament, to the removal of the completed lampfrom the machine. The speed at which lamp-making machines operate canthus be greatly increased in such an integrated unit, because of theelimination of manual operations such as feeding of parts, threading oflead-in wires through the base, and transfer of lamps or parts from onemachine to another.

In an integrated lamp-making unit, a series of operations are performedsuccessively on the lamp parts at a series of fixed positions orstations, the machine indexing from one station to another. In such acase, the time of dwell in each station is determined by the longesttime of dwell necessary in any station. The molding station is one ofthe stations requiring the longest dwell, because of the large number ofsuccessive steps performed there, and because sufficient time has to beprovided for the glass to solidify in the mold so that it will retainits shape when the mold is removed.

It will therefore be readily appreciated that even slight reductions inthe time required for the molding operation can effect substantialimprovements in production rates. Thus, in a sealing machine requiringeight-tenths of a second for each indexing motion and two seconds ofdwell or a total time of 2.8 seconds from the start of "ice one index tothe start of the next, production will be at the rate of 1285 units perhour on a single index machine. If the dwell time is reduced byfour-tenths of a second, a sealing machine single-indexed every 2.4seconds will produce at the rate of 1500 units per hour, a net gain of215 units per hour.

The holder for the bulb and mount on a sealing machine is generallyreferred to as a head, and heretofore orienting devices for such headshave been located at the molding station, with a consequent delaybetween the arrival of a head at the molding station and the closure ofthe mold. The delay was necessary to permit the head to be stopped inposition for molding. To avoid such delay, the head-orienting device canbe located at the station preceding the molding station so that the headis already oriented when it arrives at the molding station. However,this practice is unsatisfactory when conventional head-stopping devicesare used at the head-orienting station.

In the usual mechanism of that type, the head is stopped by theengagement with a fixed track of a projection on the spindle to whichthe head is attached, and this would stop the rotation of the headrelatively early in the dwell at the head-orienting station. Hence ifburners were provided at that station, the heat therefrom, instead ofbeing distributed around the circumference of a rotating lamp neck wouldbe concentrated on a small portion of a fixed lamp neck, with consequentdamage to the lamp. On the other hand, the omission of burners from thehead-orienting station would allow the glass to cool, losing theplasticity required for molding.

The present invention overcomes both such difficulties by allowing theheads to rotate until the latter part of the dwell time at thehead-stopping station, and only then, ending the rotation. In theparticular embodiment later described, this is accomplished by acam-actuated finger which engages a projection on the head when therotation is to be stopped. A short, movable track-like guide thenengages a flat on the head to insure proper orientation after the headis stopped. On indexing of the machine, the fiat leaves the movabletrack member, to ride along a fixed track which maintains orientationduring further movement of the sealing head.

Although the speed of the machine, in the sense of the number ofstations through which a lamp or its parts is moved per hour, is limitedby the dwell time required in the station of longest dwell, we havefound that the number of lamps produced per hour can nonetheless beincreased greatly by having a given operation performed on two or morelamps simultaneously, and then indexing the machine correspondinglythrough two or more stations at once. We have found that the performanceof a particular operation upon two lamps simultaneously, with consequentdouble-indexing, that is, indexing through two stations at a time, isespecially effective in cooperation with automatic apparatus fortransferring lamps from one machine to another during manufacture. Someaspects of the invention can be used with the single-indexing customaryin the art, but double-indexing greatly increases the speed ofproduction, permitting a production rate of 3000 lamps per hour, forexample, with only 1500 indexing motions. The usual single-index machinewould only produce half as many lamps with the same number of indexingmotions.

In double-indexing machines, a so-called lost-motion mechanism can beused in the linkage which actuates the movable track members to maintainfixed orientation of heads leaving the station while allowing headsarriving at the station to continue rotating. The burners directed ontothe lamp neck to heat the same, can therefore be continued in operationwithout damage to any particularv spot on'the-lamp, because-the rotationdistributes-the heatover the circumference of the bulb neck, and is notstopped until just before the bulb leaves the station.

Further objects and novel features of our inventionwill be-cl'arified'from'adetailed descriptionofa preferred embodiment of our invention withparticular reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of our apparatus shown ad'- jacent a segment ofa sealing machine turret;

Figure 2 is a view'of our apparatus in side elevation taken along line22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3- is a plan view of our apparatus inenlarged scale taken alongline" 33' of Figure 2;

Figure 4- is' a fragmentary end view of'our apparatus showingbell-cranks for actuating; arresting fingers and movable track members;

In Figure 1-, several sealing heads indicated at' 21 and each comprisinga bulbseat 17 supporting" a lamp 18 and in" turn supported hy'a pair ofposts 19', are rotatably v mounted at the periphery of asealing'm'achine" turret' indicated at 20. For convenience of reference;the stations occupied by the various heads 21 in Figs. 1 and 3 have"been identified by letters A" through H; It" is believed thattheoperation of our apparatus will b'e more clearly understood if it isfirst explained that turret 2'0- employs a double index motion, that is,heads 21" are" moved eachtime a distance equal to-the space betweenalternate head's. Thus the head 21 shown atstation-A willbem'ovedsuccessively to stations C, E, G, etc:, while" thehead-ZI shownat station'B" will beindexedin turn to stations D; F, H, etc. A rollerchain 22 suitablydriven in a manner now shown is in engagement with asprocket 23" on each head 21 at station A throughE'in the drawings andserves to rotate the heads 21" in a counterclockwisedirection (Figs. l3)through a slip clutch 9' (Fig. 2). Itis intended that molding apparatusnot shown, but of a type'used in the art, be provided at'stations'FandG; It will also beunderstoodthat'suitable" burners'are furnished-atstations Dand E.

The general arrangement of our apparatus shown at stations'D'and Ewhich'precede'molding stations F and 6 comprises apair' of'fi'ngers' 24slidably mounted'in base 25 and actuated by a'linkage' indicated at'26;Each of" the heads '21 is providedwith a suitably aifixed'projecting'member 27' en'gageable by'itsrespective' finger'24 at'on'e'. of the headpositioning, stations D and E, to stop the rotation of' the heads 21'.After the rotation of the heads-21 has been" arrested; movable-trackorguide'mem' bus 28 and 29' also slid'ably mounted in base 25 are movedinwardly toward the' center of the turret 20 by a cam actuatedmechanism" indicated at 31, each" engaging afiat 300m thehead21at=itsrespectivestation: Guides 28" and 29 serve to maintainorientation of the heads23 for'theremainder of the: dwell anddurin'gpartof the in engagement with a'fixed' track 32 which exten'dsto'subsequent stationswhere'it is necessary tomaintainorientationo'fih'eads 21;

We-will'now proceedwitha more detaileddescription of the fingers 2'4"and their associated actuatin'gjlinkage' 26 which movesthe fingers 24into andout of engagement with the members 27' of the" heads 21. duringa dwellperiod of the turret'20. Thefingers24are linked together at theirouter ends, away from'the turret'20', by

a cross-bar 33, seen in Figure 4, having a cylindrical center section34enga'gedby a slot35 in the upperen'dof with an actuatingcam 43 mountedon :rshaft 44; whichmakes; one completes revolution during eachindexing;

cycle of the turret 20. A link rod 45 pivotally connected. tetheouterendof the lever 39 and the inner end of the arm 38 transmits the motion ofthe lever 39 to the arm 38. A tension spring 46 fastened to the innerend of the arm 38 and suitably anchored to the base urges the follower42 into contact with the cam 43.

The movable guides 28 and 29 and their actuating mechanism" 31, whichwehave provided for maintaining orientation. of. the heads 21 atstations D and E after the fingers 2 4-have' Eeenwithdrawnafrom theirhead stopping position, will now be described with: particular referenceto Figures 2-4. The guides 28 and 29 are slidably mountedin'b'ase ZSand'each is movab'lebetween'an inward position abuttinga' flat one-head21 and an outwardly retracted position out of contact with any part ofthe head 21. A cross bar 50 having a cylindrical center section 51 isfast on the outward end of the guide 282 On the other hand between theguide 29' and the bar 50 there is a lost motion mechanism comprising astud 52Tfij ed"to'-theouter end" of the guide 29 and free-to move ina-hole 53 in thebar'50; a-spring 54 compressed between th'e guide 29and'thebar 5'0-and' urging the guide 2'9 ii1war'dl'y into" contact withthe'fiat30' of the head 21' atstation E; and a'pa'ir of'checlenuts 55which adjustably limit thespac'ing Between the bar 50and the guide 29Motion is supplied to the guides 28 and 29 by a mechanism' comprising a"bell" crank indicated at 56 (Fig; 4) having a vertical arm 57 providedat itsup'per end Witha slot 5'8 which engages the" cylindrical section51' of the cross hat- 50'. The Bell crank 56is' pivoted on a shaft 59andinclu'ds agenerall'yhorizontal armfifl wig. 2) which isicoupled toanactuating' linlage comprising alever'61 pivotally mounted onthesh'a-ft 40 and carrying at its inner end a: foll'ower'roll 62" incontact with a cam63' which is fiked to-theaforementioned' shaft 44. Alink rod 64- pivotally' connected to the-outer end of' the lever 61 and'the inner end of the'arm Gil-transmits themotion of-the' lever 61 to thebell cranl'56: A spring 65 con nected to the arm at one end andanchored'tothebase 2'5 at= the otherurges' the follower roll 62 intocontact Withthe cam 63.

Although our apparatus'is" adapted to being" employed in conjunctionwith s'ealing" machines driven at a wide rangeofspeeds,- it-"isbelieved-that'its operation will'lbest' be appreciated from an" examplein which specific rates aregiven'for purposesof-illustration only; Thusitisto be assumed that the turret 20 is'indexed 1500 tim'es per hour oronce each 234 seconds'and that motion and dweIl periods are .8 and"116*second's respectively. It'may also be assumed forpurposes of thisillustration'that the heads hypothetical case under" consideration .6"second is required at "the latter" part ofthe dwell period ofthe'"turret 20 for"the operation'ofour apparatus and the heads 21' areallowed to rotate duringthefirst'full secondof the" with .6 secondoflthe dwell rem'aining.

required to arrest the rotation of the heads 21 each contacts the flat30 on its respective head during the .2 second remaining before thestart of the index motion of the turret 20. After the flats 30 have beenengaged by the guides 28 and 29, the fingers 24 are withdrawn out ofengagement with the members 27.

It will be found convenient for purposes of clarity in describing theaction of the guides 28 and 29 during the index motion of the turret todesignate the heads shown in Figures 1 and 3 at stations E, D, and C asthe first, second and third head respectively. Shortly after the turret20 starts to move the flat 30 on the first head 21 slides into contactwith the fixed track 32. The second head 21 is then moving intoengagement with the guide 29 as the third head 21 approaches the guide28. The relative lengths and positions of the guides 28 and 29 is suchthat the second head is retained against rotation by the guide 29 beforethe third head can contact the guide 28. At this point, the bell crank56 is revolved part way in a clockwise direction (Fig. 2) withdrawingthe guide 28 which is fixed to the cross-bar 50 and thereby allowing thethird head to continue rotating. The guide 29, however, remains incontact with the flat 30 on the second head, under the inwardly directedforce of the spring 54. As the index motion of the turret 20 continues,the flat 30 on the second head moves into contact with the track 32before the third head which is still rotating can touch the guide 29.After the second head is secured against rotation by sutficientengagement of its flat 30 with the fixed track 32, the bell-crank 56 ispivoted further in a clock- Wise direction. In its resultant outwardmotion, cross bar 50 contacts the check nuts 55 on the stud 52, therebyforcing the guide 29 outwardly away from its head orienting position andpermitting the third head 21 to continue rotating as it arrives atstation E. It will be understood that in the same motion of the turretwhich carried the third head 21 from station C to station E, theadjacent head 21 occupying station B (Fig. l) at the commencement of theindexing cycle is moved to station D. With the fingers 24 and the guides28 and 29 retracted, the heads 21 at stations D and E continue to rotateuntil our apparatus is again actuated to repeat its head positioningoperation.

From the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment, of ourinvention, various modifications within the scope and spirit of ourinvention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, theguides 28 and 29 may be actuated by separate mechanisms. On the otherhand, some aspects of our invention can be used with a single indexmachine if desired. It is therefore not intended that the invention belimited to the particular arrangement of parts illustrated and describedbut rather to rely upon the definitions of the invention provided by theappended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a lamp sealing machine having a turret and a plurality ofrotatively driven heads mounted at regular intervals on said turret,said heads being moved intermittently by said turret to a plurality ofstations, apparatus at one of said stations for angularly orienting eachsaid head, said apparatus comprising releasable means for arresting therotation of the said head in a pre-determined orientation; movable guidemeans for engaging said positioned head to prevent further rotation; afixed track thereafter engageable by the said oriented head whereby saidorientation is maintained as the said head is moved by said turret tosubsequent stations; and means for moving the said arresting means andthe said guide means in required time sequence.

2. Apparatus for angularly orienting rotatable heads mounted on anintermittently movable turret and carried thereby to a plurality ofstations, said apparatus comprising: a projecting member on each saidhead; a finger at one of said stations, said finger being slidablebetween an inward and a retracted position and engageable in its inwardposition by the said member to arrest the rotation of the same in apredetermined orientation; means for thereafter maintaining the saidarrested head in said predetermined orientation during the motion ofsaid turret including a substantially flattened surface on each head,said surface having a fixed position relative to the said projectingmember, a guide also movable between an inward and a retracted positionand engageable in its inward position by the said surface; a fixed trackalso engageable by the said surface during the motion of said turret;and means for actuating the said slide and the said guide inpredetermined time relation.

3. Apparatus for angularly orienting two adjacent rotatively drivenheads on a sealing machine turret provided with a double index motion,said apparatus comprising means for arresting the rotation of said headsin predetermined positions at a first and second station; means forretaining each said positioned head against further rotation including amovable guide at each said station, a fixed track at subsequent stationsand a generally flattened surface on each head engageable by said guideand said track; and means for actuating said arresting means and saidguide in required time sequence.

4. Apparatus for angularly orienting two adjacent rotatively drivenheads on a sealing machine turret provided with a double index motion,said apparatus comprising means for arresting the rotation of said headsin predetermined positions at a first and second station; means forretaining each said positioned head against further rotation including amovable track section at each said station, a fixed track at subsequentstations, and a flat surface on each head engageable by said tracks;means for moving said track sections into and out of engagement withsaid flat surfaces including a lost motion mechanism whereby the tracksection at said first station is withdrawn to permit continuing rotationof a head arriving at the positioning station while the track section atthe second said station maintains engagement with a head moving towardsubsequent stations; and means for actuating said arresting means andsaid moving means in required time sequence.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,109,505 Rue et al. Mar. 1, 1938 2,630,204 Lichtenberg Mar. 3, 1953

